This disclosure relates generally to equipment utilized and operations performed in conjunction with a subterranean well and, in an example described below, more particularly provides a slurry discharge device and associated methods.
It is common practice to discharge a slurry into a well. For example, in gravel packing operations, the slurry can be a mixture of gravel and a fluid, with the gravel accumulating about a screen in the well to thereby inhibit production of sand and fines from a formation intersected by the well. In fracturing operations, the slurry can be a mixture of proppant and a fluid, with the proppant being used to prop open fractures formed in a formation intersected by the well.
The flow rates and volumes of slurry delivered into wells in such operations have increased in recent years. Unfortunately, these increased slurry flow rates and volumes tend to cause rapid erosion of the equipment used to deliver the slurry into the wells.
Attempts have been made to prevent or mitigate such erosion, but the results of these attempts have not been entirely satisfactory. Therefore, it will be appreciated that improvements are needed in the art of slurry discharge into subterranean wells.